SSC (English Medium) 10th Standard - Maharashtra State Board Important Questions for English

Narrate an experience of your own. Write it in about 100 words (Beginning is given below):

After the recess, we were chatting and fighting in the class......

Imagine you are Soham/Sohini Dargan residing at 208, Swarnadham, Hira Colony, Mumbai-400052.

Read the following snippet and write a letter based on it:

Formal Letter:

Write a letter to the Editor of a newspaper to create awareness about the role of sports in a student’s life. 

Expand the theme:

Expand the following idea into 100 words:

Trees: Nature’s Gift to Man.

(A1) Verbal to Non-Verbal:

Read the following information and complete the flowchart for the same, and give a suitable title.

Prepare a news report based on the following:

‘Child labourers rescued from stone quarries’.

Non-verbal to Verbal:

Transfer the given information into a paragraph. Suggest a suitable title:

Develop a story in about 80-100 words with the following beginning. Give a suitable title.

Anita was in a cake shop to buy a cake for her birthday. She saw a small beggar boy outside the shop....

Prepare a speech to be delivered in your school assembly: The topic given to you is:

“Nothing is more important than self-study.”

You may use the following points:

• Learn more efficiently
• Learn at your own pace
• Encourages curiosity
• Boosts student's self-esteem

Read the passage given below and write its summary in a paragraph. Suggest a suitable title.

Imagine you are Soham/Sohini Dargan residing at 208, Swarnadham, Hira Colony, Mumbai-400052.

Read the following snippet and write a letter based on it:

Informal Letter:

Write a letter to your friend Neha/Nishant describing the advantages of sports and games.

Narrate an experience in about 80-100 words with the following ending. Give a suitable title.

.............................. After the sumptuous meal in a luxurious hotel, I discovered that I had forgotten my wallet at home.

During the devastating July 2005 floods that hit Mumbai, Rajen Dutia received an urgent call from a relative, Lopa Vyas late in the evening. “A friend’s mother is stranded near your home, Rajen. Can you please take her home? Her name is Rashmi,” Vyas told him.
Mumbai had come to a halt and people were trapped everywhere. Despite power failure and raging rain, Dutia stepped out and made his way to the spot, where he found Rashmi as well as a dozen other people. They were stranded in the dark, shivering in the rain. They all lived far away and had no place to go for the night.
Rajen took all of them to his one-bedroom flat, where he served them dinner and invited them to spend the night.
"By doing so," says Rajen, "I was simply fulfilling my karma, paying the universe back for the good it had done for me."

"God is kind. My daughter had just started her new job that day, and had gone for her training. She was stranded too. While she was trying to get to our relatives, she almost drowned, but a young stranger saved her. He and his friends even dropped her to my relative's place and phoned me to say she was safe. One good turn deserves another."

A2. Order
Look at the following sentences from the passage and put them in the correct sequence: (2)
(a) He took them to his one-bedroom flat.
(b) Rajen found Rashmi as well as a dozen other people shivering in the rain.
(c) Mumbai had come to a halt and people were trapped everywhere.
(d) Rajen Dutia received an urgent call.

A3

During the devastating July 2005 floods that hit Mumbai, Rajen Dutia received an urgent call from a relative, Lopa Vyas late in the evening. “A friend’s mother is stranded near your home, Rajen. Can you please take her home? Her name is Rashmi,” Vyas told him.
Mumbai had come to a halt and people were trapped everywhere. Despite power failure and raging rain, Dutia stepped out and made his way to the spot, where he found Rashmi as well as a dozen other people. They were stranded in the dark, shivering in the rain. They all lived far away and had no place to go for the night.
Rajen took all of them to his one-bedroom flat, where he served them dinner and invited them to spend the night.
"By doing so," says Rajen, "I was simply fulfilling my karma, paying the universe back for the good it had done for me."

"God is kind. My daughter had just started her new job that day, and had gone for her training. She was stranded too. While she was trying to get to our relatives, she almost drowned, but a young stranger saved her. He and his friends even dropped her to my relative's place and phoned me to say she was safe. One good turn deserves another."

A2. Order
Look at the following sentences from the passage and put them in the correct sequence: (2)
(a) He took them to his one-bedroom flat.
(b) Rajen found Rashmi as well as a dozen other people shivering in the rain.
(c) Mumbai had come to a halt and people were trapped everywhere.
(d) Rajen Dutia received an urgent call.

A3(i). Fill in the blanks :
Select the words given in the passage (1)
(i) Thousands Of pilgrims were …………….. due to the cloud burst in Uttarakhand.
(ii) The tiger was ……………… by the hunter.

(ii). Antonyms:
Select the correct antonyms for the given words from the alternatives :
(1) Please :
(a) unplease (b) displease (c) misplease
(2) Safe: '
(a) insafe (b) safeless (c) unsafe

A4(i) Tags :
Select the correct tag for the alternatives given below :
One good turn deserves another.
(a) Doesn’t it? (b) don’t it (c) does it?

(ii). Guess:
Choose the correct answer : (1)
Rajen can you please take her home? ‘Can’ indicates :
(a) Obligation (b) ability (c) permission

A5. Personal Response :
‘ one good turn
Deserves another.’
Explain with an
example of your own.

Look at the balloons. Which are the qualities inculcated in the author by her teacher? Write them. (2)

Sister Monica, however, wasn't quite as lenient as that, and spent most of the time telling me about the importance of regularity and hard work. She made me realise that success is, like genius, 99 per cent perspiration and 1 per cent inspiration. It's a lesson that has stood me in good stead.
The teachers I'm most grateful to, though, are not those who have taught me the most, but those who have simply been friends to me, believed me and believed in me. Prominent among them is Sudha Ramasubramanium-Rambo, as we used to call her. I didn't know her too well. She taught me in college, and apart from being incredible in class unless one missed class, she also believed that I actualIy had a Problem when I developed an injury (which several doctors found difficult to diagnose). Despite my missing an exam-the HSC, of all exams- she was the only person who told me to concentrate on my health and assured me that I could take the exam off the top of my head any time I wanted to.
I'm not even certain she remembers it, but at the time, it felt like one of the only rays of hope in an extremely dark tunnel. Perhaps few teachers realize how far their influence extends or how much of a difference their actions and words can make. A number of my teachers have unfortunately taught me kindness and tolerance and patience by being precisely the opposite, and quite obviously, they aren't the people I like to think about. But many of my teachers have been extraordinary people, who have not only taught me in class but also helped mould me and my character in every other way. I only hope that I live up to what their endeavors were undoubtedly mean to create.

B2.Answer
(1) What kind of teachers are disliked by the author?                                                                (1)
(2) What was Sudha Ramasubramanium's advice to the author when she was going to miss her HSC exam. ?                                                                                                                                 (1)

B3. Match :
Match the words with their appropriate meanings :                                                                     (2)

B.4(i) ‘Wh question’
She made me realize that success is, like genius.                                                                  (1)
(Frame a ‘Wh’ question to get the underlined part as an answer)

(ii) She taught me in college.                                                                                                (1)
(Begin the sentence with ‘I’ and rewrite).

B5. Personal Response
Do you agree that a teacher should also be your good friend? Justify your answer.                    (2)

A1. Guess
Select the correct alternatives from the boxes : (2)

(1) The Olympic Games were originally held in honour of:
(a) The Priests (b) The Greeks
(c) The Spartans (d) Zeus

(2) The Olympics were held after every …………..
(a) Year (b) Four years
(c) Three years (d) Two years

(3) All came to know of Olympia from the:
(a) Olympics (b) Spartans
(c) Syracusans (d) Athenians

(4) Altis was the name of a :
(a) God (b) Race
(c) Festival (d) Enclosure

Olympia, the original site of Olympic Games in ancient Greece is situated in a quiet, beautiful valley. The old ruins are shaded by evergreen oaks, pines and poplars, as well as olive trees. Olympia was never a city but a sacred ground occupied by temples and dwellings for the priests. At the centre was the enclosure known as Altis, dedicated to Zeus, the god of gods. It was in honour of Zeus that the quadrennial festival and the games were held.

The fame of Olympia rests largely upon Olympic Games. They were a great national festival of the entire Greek race. During the week of the festival the Athenians, the Spartans, the Syracusans and other groups, all forgot their narrow identities. They regarded an Olympic victory as the highest honour. The simple reward of a twig of wild olive immortalized the victor and his family.
The Olympic Games were held regularly in peace and in war at an interval of four years for over a thousand years from 776 B.C. till 393 A.D. Originally, men who spoke Greek as their mother tongue were allowed to compete in the Olympic Games. No married women were allowed to be present. The athletic programme was varied by the presence of historians, orators and writers. After each event a herald announced the victor's name and handed him a palm. On the last day the successful competitors were each given a garland of wild olive.

A2. Select
Select the word each from the circle which mean the following:                                              (2)
(1) Occurring at the interval of four years
(2) Wreckage
(3) Take part in a game
(4) One who wins.

A3. Complete :
Complete the table and frame your sentence with anyone word : (2)

A4. (i) The old ruins are, shaded by evergreen oaks, pines and .poplars as well as olive trees.
(Insert not only ……. but also and rewrite).                                                                            (1)
(ii) No married women were allowed to be present. (Remove 'No' and rewrite the sentence without changing its meaning)                                                                                                         (1)

A5. Personal response
How are the winners in Olympics rewarded today?                                                                 (2)

B1. Choose
Choose the correct alternatives and complete the sentences (2)
(1) The narrator is :
(a) an astronaut
(b) an engineer studying in BITS Pilani
(c) in the team of astronauts.

(2) Armstrong said, 'That's one small step for a man, one giant leap for mankind which means:
(a) one step on the moon means, many steps on the earth.
(b) he felt like a giant on the moon.
(c) one moon mission had opened up many avenues in science and technology for mankind.

It was late evening of July 20. 1969, when we turned up the hostel radio. I was an engineering student at BITS, Pilani. I still remember the feverish excitement that gripped us from July 16 when Apollo 11. the US space rocket, took off from Cape Kennedy, Florida. Neil Armstrong and his team of astronauts, Edwin "Buzz" Aldrin and Michael Collins, were to land on moon, for the first time in human history. We listened 'with rapt attention when Armstrong declared: "That's one small step for a man, one giant leap for mankind."
His death on Saturday, August 25, is a moment to salute the romance of space science that Apollo 11 unleashed. It has changed forever the way we look at our planet Earth and its satellite, the moon.
Standing on powdery moondust, Armstrong put up his thumb, shut one eye and found his thumb blotting out the Earth. "It suddenly struck me that that tiny pea, pretty and blue, was the Earth” he said later. "I felt very, very small." But behind that humbling realisation stood a giant truth:

The effort to explore the universe united mankind in technology and knowledge. Each moon mission, about 110 till date, provided more confidence to take on bolder projects.

B2. Complete                                                                                                                         (2)
(1) Armstrong describes the earth as ……………
(2) The effort to explore the universe has ………………
(3) Apollo 11 unleashed and changed forever ………………
(4) The author came to know about Apollo 11 mission when he …………..

B3. Solve
Solve the crossword with the clues given below. Refer to the passage for your answers:              (2)

Down :   (1) The area beyond the earth's atmosphere .
             (2) The name of the spacecraft that Armstrong travelled.
Across : (3) A person trained to travel in space.
             (4) Y A natural satellite of the earth.

B4. Begin the sentence
(i) With-For the first time .......and rewrite                                                                               [1]
Neil Armstrong, Edwin Aldrin and Michael Collins were, to land on the moon for the first time.
(ii) Insert 'that' appropriately and rewrite.                                                                               [1]
Armstrong found his thumb blotting out the Earth.

B5. Personal Response
Would you like to be an astronaut? Give reasons.

A1. Saving Motherland
I can save my motherland by putting an end to ……..

Republic Day! We grow aware
That nothing can be wrought by prayer
-Prop of the credulous-until
It is supported everywhere
By an all-powerful people's will !
We have been witness in the past to sights impossible to bear:
Famine and drought and dread and doom
Continue still to spread the gloom
Of humans turned to skeletons, to shrivelled bags of naked bones
Who have not even strength to vent their suffering through sobs and groans……
MAY EVERY Indian's heart become
An unafraid announcing drum
Echoing and re-echoing a new hope and a new desire
To burn up rubbish-heaps of hate,
Once and for all. Time cannot wait!
Burn up all selfish aims and ends in a great nation's cleansing fire!
Let India's millions chant in chorus:
A mighty future stands before us-
Down with all ruthless tyranny, down with all exploitation which
Renders the poor the poorer-and renders the bloated rich, more rich !

A 2. How does the poet express the condition of people during famines and droughts?                                                                                                       (2)

Match:
Match the line with the figure of speech:

B1. What does the poet want us to do in the following situation?                                                   
(a) While struggling ………..
(b) While making money ………
(c) While dreaming ………………
(d) While losing …………..

It's doing your job the best you can,
And being just to your fellow man;
It's making money-but holding friends,
And being true to your aims and ends.

It's figuring how and learning why,
And looking forward and thinking high;
And dreaming a little and doing much,
It's keeping always in closest touch.

With what is finest in word and deed,
It's being through, yet making speed;

It's daring blithely the field of chance,
While making labour a brave romance.

It’s going onward despite defeat
And fighting staunchly, but keeping sweet;
It's struggling on with the will to win,
But taking loss with a cheerful grin.

B2. Achieving Success
Hints given by the poet to become successful are 
(a) Doing your job the best
(b)
(c)
(d)
(e)

B3. Poetic Device
Select the appropriate rhyme scheme for the 3rd stanza. 
(1) abab
(2) aabb
(3) aaba

A1. True or False
State whether the following statements are true or false: 
(1) The author's new house was situated at Bangalore.
(2) The writer was delighted because their new house, was the biggest they ever lived.

One of the advantages of growing up in an Army household was the frequency with which we moved. 'Postings' came with predictable regularity every three years. What was unpredictable and therefore exciting was the suspense. Where would we go this time? Ambala, Pune, Dehradun, Allahabad, Tejpur, Bangalore, Yo! ............ In my short span of thirteen years we had moved lock. stock and barrel eleven times!
Every move meant change. New journeys, new places, new schools, my new books, new uniforms, new friends and new houses. We lived in tents, bashas, Nissen huts, flats and bungalows. No matter what the shape and size of the dwelling, mother soon put her own special stamp on it and transformed it into a familiar place - our home - complete with bright yellow-curtains, coffee-brown carpet, assorted pictures, hanging ferns and potted palms - providing a comforting sense of continuity in our essentially nomadic life.
I was thirteen, the year we moved to the Cantonment at Allahabad. In stark contrast to the razzle-dazzle of the city's commercial areas like Katra and Chowk, the Cantonment was a quiet, orderly place with broad tree-lined roads that still carried the names of long-dead Britishers. Our bungalow was on a sleepy by-lane called MacPherson Road. When we first saw it, my brothers and I were delighted. It was by far the biggest house we had ever lived in. The task of furnishing those huge, echoing rooms daunted Mother.

A2. Complete 
a. The broad tree-lined roads were named after.............................
b. Katra and Chowk are .............................
c. Mother was daunted with the task of................................. .
d. The suspense was exciting because the posting was.........................

A3. Personal response
What do you think are the problems faced by those who change households frequently.

A1. Order
Arrange the following sentences in the chronological order as they appear in the passage:
(i) On celebrations, parents can invest Rs. 200 and plant a sapling of a tree representing the child’s birth star.
(ii) He wants to create Brihat Panchvati.
(iii) He has been able to increase the areas of the Pavitra VanaVana.
(iv) Plans are afoot to create a Saptaswara forest.

Today, Reddy is one of the most well - known environment specialists in India. With his influence, he has been able to increase the areas of the Pavitra Vana and has plans to bring about awareness of Puranic trees and flowers for the knowledge of the Indian citizen.
He wants to create near the Pavitra Vana, a Brihat Panchavati so that parents can show their children the forest where Shakuntala lived or Sita spent her final days. There will also be a hillock where people can meditate. Plans are also afoot create a Saptaswara forest, pertaining to different ragas in music. Scientists have found that certain plants react in a particular way to different ragas. So in such a forest, when a musician performs certain ragas, the plants will reach in such a manner that it will benefit the audience, the musician and the whole environment. The other idea is an ecopark for children. On celebrations, like birthdays, parents can invest Rs. 200 and plant a sapling of a tree representing the child's birth star. The plant will also carry the child's name. The Pavitra Vana also houses a garden of Prophet Mohammed, which has some plants mentioned in the Holy Quran. There is the date plant - sacred to Islam - and the Mimosops elengi, the latter a highly fragrant variety. There is also the garden of Eden for housing plants sacred to Christianity, but the Pavitra Vana authorities have to procure most of them in the new sections.

A2. Find specialities
Write down the specialities of the following:
(i) Brihat Panchavati: ........................ ..... . .
(ii) Saptaswara Forest: ..................... ..... .............. . .
(iii) Eco-park: ..................................... . .
(iv) A garden of Prophet Mohammed:

A3. Antonyms Find antonyms for the following words from the passage:
(i) same
(ii) decrease
(iii) destroy
(iv) lost

A4. Language study
(i) He wants to create near the Pavitra Vana, a Brihat Panchavati. [Pick out an infinitive from the given line and use it in your own sentence]
(ii) Reddy is one of the most well-known environment specialists in India. [Begin with: Very few ………]

A5. Personal Response
Do you think one person alone can create an awareness towards environment conservation ? Support, your answer with appropriate reasons.

B1. Select
Fill in the blanks choosing the correct alternatives from those given in the bracket:
(i) The author was inspired and motivated to read ............................................ by the time she was eleven.
[Shakespeare, Chaucer, G.B. Shaw]

(ii) Every lesson .......................... ......... took was spiced with half a dozen or more anecdotes.
[Mrs. Rowlands, Sister Monica, Mr. A.N. Patil]

(iii) The teachers helped the narrator to become ..................................... . .
[confident, happy, independent]

(iv) Mrs. Cynthia Nesamani and Sister Monica gave .......................................... to the narrator.
[freedom to do what he wanted, advice to do something, instructions to produce better results]

In a way, one of the greatest gifts any teacher can give a student, I think, is to inculcate a curiosity to learn.
I've been incredibly lucky to have at least one such teacher at every stage in my life. The first was Mrs. Rowlands who taught me in primary school. She taught me to read without ever pushing me. She made me want to read more by giving 'me some of the most interesting children's books available. And although I still love to go back to those books from time to time, it was only because of her that I was able to read Shakespeare by the time I was ten, and Chaucer a year later.
In later years, it was Mr. A.N. Patil, my Marathi and Hindi Teacher who made a huge impression on me. Every lesson he took, was spiced with half a dozen or more anecdotes from a wide variety of subjects: among them history, politics, religion and sociology. I was, and still am in awe of his knowledge, which despite rather desperate attempts, I doubt I'll ever be able to match.
There have also been other teachers who helped me to try to become independent: to think and act for myself using my own judgement, which to my mind has been just as, if not more important, than actually learning anything.
After all, it's much too easy to become a completely useless repository of facts and little else.
Two teachers whom I remember in particular are Mrs. Cynthia Nesamani and Sister Monica, both taught me in school. The former, by and large, gave me a free rein to do what I wanted to do. I, being one of those people who dislike instructions, she helped me to produce much better results than I'd have otherwise done.

B2.Complete
Read the extract and complete the following:
The teacher can
(i) .............
(ii) ..............
(iii )..............
(iv).................

B3. Similar word
Look at the following sentences arid pick the word having similar meaning to the given word and rewrite:
(i) Spiced His conversation is always with a lot of humour. (made interesting, garnished, flavoured)
(ii) Repository
The library should not merely be a ................ of books. (store-house, reservoir, tank)
(iii) Inculcate
It is the responsibility of the parents and teachers to .......values in the child's formative years. (imbibe, give, show)
(iv) Incredibly
I have been .. lucky to have at least one such teacher at every stage in my life. (importantly, unbelievably, beautifully)

B4. Language study
(i) There have also been other teachers. They have helped me to try to become
independent. (Combine using 'who')
(ii) It was only because of her that I was able-to read Shakespeare.
(Rewrite beginning with: If it was not for her, ). 

B.5 Out motivators
Look at the following table and complete it by presenting your own views